Authorities in Sarasota County investigate a shooting in the Amberlea neighborhood that left five people, including the suspected gunman, dead. Photo courtesy of Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office/X
Authorities are investigating two deadly shootings on opposite coasts of the Florida Peninsula that they say were carried out by the same shooter.
Police said the death toll from the two shootings is seven, with five people, including the suspected gunman, found dead in Sarasota County, and two others found dead some 200 miles away in Fort Lauderdale.
The suspect was identified Wednesday as 51-year-old Russell Kot.
According to a statement from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, detectives were notified of a shooting in the Amberlea neighborhood at 12:24 p.m. EST Tuesday.
Deputies arrived to find neighbors performing CPR on a wounded man in the front yard. The neighbors informed the deputies that the man’s wife may be inside the home, where law enforcement found four dead adults, two women and two men.
The wounded man was shortly thereafter pronounced dead.
The suspect was among the deceased inside the residence, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said.
The four victims were identified Wednesday as Olga Greinert, 46, Florita Stolyar, 66, Anatoly Ioffe, 61, and Yaroslav Blyudoy, 39.
Amid the investigation, Fort Lauderdale police informed the Sarasota County deputies of a double homicide they believe is connected to the Amberlea shooting.
Authorities have released far fewer details about the double homicide in Fort Lauderdale. UPI has contacted the Fort Lauderdale Police Department for additional information.
According to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Lauderdale police provided the Sarasota County deputies with information on the suspect’s vehicle and said it was captured on camera traveling north through Punta Gorda, which is located about 55 miles south of Sarasota.
Detectives working the shooting in Amberlea, which is located in southeastern Sarasota County, recovered video of the suspect’s vehicle entering the neighborhood at about 11:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Shortly after the suspect’s vehicle entered Amberlea, a Ring camera belonging to a neighbor of the crime scene recorded the sound of gunfire. Thirty-seven minutes later, a man was recorded driving into the neighborhood.
Sarasota County detectives said the man approached the front door of the residence and was shot. Authorities said the man was the same victim detectives later found in the front yard receiving CPR from neighbors.
After this man was shot, no one was seen exiting the home, according to police.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said Kot, the suspected gunman, had previously been in a romantic relationship with one of the victims in Fort Lauderdale and that the victim was connected to those killed in Sarasota.
“The suspect’s motivation for targeting the Sarasota victims is unknown” the sheriff’s office said.
On 2/10/26, at 12:24 p.m., the EOC received a 911 call advising that an adult male subject at a residence in the Amberlea neighborhood near Proctor and McIntosh Roads had been shot.
Click link for full news release: https://t.co/DJg3AhzwoR pic.twitter.com/0pAikW6cAr— SarasotaSheriff (@SarasotaSheriff) February 11, 2026
